buying used 9" housing
 

Any way to tell if a used 9" ford housing with back brace is any good. thanks, Mike

There is not really a way to check one unless you have a jig used to narrow housings. sorry.
Sometimes when a back brace is welded on, the heat pulls the tubes backwards, then the ends will be welded on centered from the carrier bearings in the jig. So to the eye it will actually look like the housing is bowed from one end to the other, but all axle shafts will be perfectly straight!

[img]http://img259.imageshack.us/img259/3088/img4064cm7.jpg[/img]

[img]http://img240.imageshack.us/img240/5316/img4066na6.jpg[/img]

There is a 2" solid bar inside there lining the carrier up with the housing ends